#208: The Year in Review
A few highlights of 2023, a recipe for pound cake, and Bee Wilson's new book The Secret of Cooking.
Highlights of 2023
It’s been quite a year and here are a few of the highlights.
Duncan and Olivia married. I catered their 3-Day wedding and my sister Helen made the cake.
I turned 70 and I ain’t done yet!
I taught eight in-person Art of the Pie Day Camps and led eighteen virtual events.
I learned to make macarons. Something I’ve always wanted to do.
My girl cousins and I got together after 50 years and what I great time we had.
I traveled to the UK for a meditative walk on the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, and Sark.
We had our Annual Cider Pressing and Potluck at Pie Cottage.
There was a whirlwind trip to DC to hear Richard O’Neill play a Stradivari viola in concert at The Library of Congress. A lifetime experience!
And you received seventy-four newsletter posts in 2023! You’ll find the archive of them all here.
One more recipe for the end of the year
Here is how I make pound cake. I like having a loaf of this one around so when friends drop by for a visit I have a little something to offer them with a cup of tea…plus I just really like pound cake…a lot!
Pound Cake
I created this one gluten-free for those, like me, who have to avoid gluten for various reasons but, if gluten is no issue for you, just substitute your favorite AP flour.
What You Will Need
One 5 x 9” pan (or something close to that size)
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 AP GF Flour
½ teaspoon baking powder (I always use aluminum free baking powder)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt (or whatever salt you have on hand)
2 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
Zest of 1 lemon (chop it up fine)
1 cup (224 g) plus 2 tablespoons (30 g) butter (I used salted)
1¼ cups sugar (I used Costco organic granulated sugar)
4 medium or 3 large eggs (depending on what your fluffs are laying)
2½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract (for best flavor use the best vanilla you can afford)
How to Do It
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter the loaf pan well.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and optional cardamom.
Add the lemon zest to the dry ingredients.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed for 4-5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a minute after each addition, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed. Some of the flour may come flying up and out! Then beat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat it in for a few more seconds.
Pour into the prepared pan, smooth the top, rap on counter to make sure you have no bubbles. Bake for 70-80 minutes, or until lightly golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Check after the first 25 minutes of baking; if it has begun to darken, loosely cover with aluminum foil or place a cookie sheet on the rack above like a “sunbrella”, and resume baking.
Remove from the oven. Let cool for 10 minutes and then turn out of pan. Wrap in plastic wrap will still hot to keep moist. Let cool completely. It’s better the next day.
Notes: I have also made this recipe using the cold oven technique with great success. This is when you put the bake into an oven that is not pre-heated, and let the oven and bake them up together!
As we come to the end of the year.
To get ready for 2024, here is a link to the newsletter I wrote for January 1st of 2023 with some of my new year traditions including sweeping out the old year and inviting the new year in at midnight, our annual First Footing also called Hogmanay. I also treat myself to a new broom each year and delegate by old one…after it has swept out the old year…to outside duty on the porch and path up to the house.
At the end of this week, I’ll be traveling near Zion National Park with Duncan and Olivia to have Christmas with the in-laws. As our families gather and deepen our bond, I’m looking forward to seeing new territory and sharing a wonderful time together.
What I’m Reading
The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen by Bee Wilson
I LOVE a book that uses whatever is around, doesn’t stress about details, and is seasoned and served up with warmth and wisdom. This is exactly what you’ll find inside the latest offering from Bee Wilson. I met Bee in Seattle some years back (a/k/a pre-Covid) when she was on book-tour for First Bite: How We Learn to Eat but first became acquainted with her work when I read Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook. If you are a home cook like me, I think you will love her most recent offering. The aphorisms that are included at the end are priceless like this one…
If you want to eat better food, you need to care for the cook. That probably means you.
This book is definitely a keeper IMHO.
What I’m Listening To
One of my favorite versions of Auld Lang Syne.
Here’s the link to the Kindness Calendar for Janaury 2024 or you can download the PDF below.
Be sure to say Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit first thing before you get out of bed on January 1st for a good luck and happiness for the month…and all year long.
Comments are open to both paid and free subscribers in case you would like to leave your thoughts or a New Year’s greeting for all.
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Happy Holidays and See You Next Year!
Making peanut butter and chocolate pie as I write!
Kate: Have a wonderful trip and holiday time with your family and friends. Many blessings for the year to come. Rick